Tomorrow will be a new era in local politics after Kirklees Council leader Mehboob Khan stepped down today.

He gave thanks to fellow councillors and council staff during his final day in the leader’s office and starts a new job as a political advisor in London on Monday but continues as a Greenhead councillor.

“It has been a huge privilege to be leader of the council,” he said. “I hope people can see that I‘ve done my best to work with people from all parts of Kirklees and that I’m someone who understands the needs of rural Honley to those in social housing in Chickenley.

“I am one of very few council leaders from a BME (black, minority ethnic) background and I hope I’ve been able to build bridges across communities and for people to see I’m an alright guy.”

Clr Khan reflected on his 11 years as Labour leader, time in office and the highs and lows he’s faced.

He added: “In a hung council it takes a specialist set of skills to lead a council and consult with councillors within and outside of your own party about the direction to take the council in. The one thing I’ve done is keep my door open to backbenchers of all parties to come and talk to me about issues.

Asked if he thought he’d done the job well, Clr Khan said: “I don’t want to pass comment on whether I’ve done it well, that’s for others to judge, but I’ve worked to the best of my ability. Certainly, in the last five weeks I’ve had many comments from people saying that they appreciate the hard work, compassion and sense of support I’ve provided.

“Being council leader is a full time job, I’ve been passionate and enthusiastic about it, it’s not a 9-5 job it’s a 24/7 job and it takes over every aspect of life.”

He’s proud of bringing the council closer to businesses, voluntary sector, and Huddersfield University, strengthening apprenticeships and boosting GCSE attainment.

He added: “We’ve expanded children’s centres, increased school places and refurbished many schools. We’ve refurbished council houses and brought them up to a decent standard. We helped create the £85m Kirklees College and we’ve got the £35m Huddersfield sports centre coming.”

Asked if it would have happened anyway, Clr Khan said: “Much of it wouldn’t have happened without me being the pushing force .”

But there have been many challenges, recently the need to cut £65m from the council’s budget: “It hasn’t been easy, and I’ve lost some excellent colleagues,” he added.

Outside factors feature among his biggest challenges - the Shannon Matthews kidnap saga, testing times after two of the London bombers came from the borough and a recent Islamist plan for an explosive attack on a rally in Dewsbury put Kirklees in the spotlight.

He added: “These were outside factors but they could have put a strain on the community. I think we managed community relations well.”

Asked why he continues as a Greenhead councillor, he said: “Lots of councillors have full time jobs and work in the evenings and weekends on ward work.”

Asked if he will still be a Kirklees councillor next year, he said: “I can’t put a time a scale of it, it’s a decision I have to take with colleagues.”

Heckmondwike’s Clr David Sheard has now taken over as Kirklees leader.

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